The boards of Kuwait Finance House and Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank are considering potential merger. The deal, it happens, will create the Gulf’s 6th biggest lender with $92 billion in assets. The boards of the 2 banks have already met to consider valuation studies carried out by HSBC Holdings and Credit Suisse Group. The 2 banks had said earlier they had started renewed discussions for a potential merger. Initial talks between the banks had failed over price. Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, National Commercial Bank is in talks to merge with Riyad Bank to create the Gulf’s 3rd largest bank with $182 billion in assets. Abu Dhabi is working on a merger of three of its banks, potentially the emirate’s second in just over a year.
